Parts gager

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a parts gager which is made up of a vibratory bowl feeder which delivers parts to a rotating gage wheel having a wedge face and a slotted interior portion. The gage wheel receives those parts which are oversized, bent, doubled, or otherwise unacceptable and carries the same to a reject chute; failing to accept those parts which are considered usable and drop into a discharge chute. The accepted parts are fed on to a conveyor belt with cleated members for delivery for further assembly. The rejected parts are dropped into a reject receptacle for further processing or scrapping.

United States Patent Grafius [54] PARTS GAGER 2,716,487 8/1955 Cox..209/91 [15] 3,655,042 [4 1 Apr.1l,1972

3,587,850 6/1971 Dick ..209/73 Primary Examiner-Allen N. KnowlesAttorney-Dominik, Knechtel & Godula [57] ABSTRACT Disclosed is a partsgager which is made up of a vibratory bowl feeder which delivers partsto a rotating gage wheel having a wedge face and a slotted interiorportion. The gage wheel receives those parts which are oversized, bent,doubled, or otherwise unacceptable and carries the same to a rejectchute; failing to accept those parts which are considered usable anddrop into a discharge chute. The accepted parts are fed on to a conveyorbelt with cleated members for delivery for further assembly. Therejected parts are dropped into a reject receptacle for furtherprocessing or scrapping.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 11 I972 SHEET 1 [1F 2 FIG. 2

IN VE N TOR Gerald R. Grafius PATENTEBAPR 1 1 I972 SHEET 2 [IF 2 FIG. 6

INVENTOR Gerald R. G rafius 4mm, ,M

ATTYS PARTS GAGER BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Numerous parts, and moreparticularly spark plug gaskets, are assembled and formed in high speedoperations. Some parts are acceptable for use in further assemblyoperations, and some are not. In the particular embodiment shown, thegaskets can tangle, double, bend and be otherwise malformed and must berejected or otherwise they cannot be delivered satisfactorily andaccepted by further assembly equipment.

Heretofore, parallel rollers of the character shown in US. Pat. No.3,313,410 have been used for parts such as headed parts, tapered parts,and the like which can gage the same as to size and functionalcapability. Where the reject is for reasons of tangling, doubling,bending, or malformation the part cannot be readily rolled on its edgeto roller-type gaging members. Furthermore, a bent part will passthrough rollers if the radius of the bend is greater than the radius ofthe rollers. Under these circumstances, the parts must be forwarded to agaging member under a positive feed, and the engaging member must-becapable of rejecting those parts unacceptable, and passing those partswhich can be accepted by further assembly operations.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION The present invention stems from the discoverythat gaskets and other parts which must be rejected if tangled, doubled,bent or malformed can be fed readily in a feeder to a rotating gagingwheel. The gaging wheel has a wedge-like peripheral acceptance area intowhich the malformed or unacceptable parts are driven and the same arecarried by the wheel for discharge to a reject chute. Those parts whichare acceptable will not wedge into the gaging wheel, but rather drop orotherwise be fed to an acceptable parts discharge.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Further objects and advantages as well as adetailed understanding of the subject invention will be appreciatedtaken in conjunction with the accompanying illustrative drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective partially broken view of the entire assembly ofthe parts gager showing all of the elements in their general functionalrelationship.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the discharge block and related elements,partially shown in section and enlarged scale, taken from the elevationidentified by FIG. 2 at the upper portion ofFlG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the gaging wheel and motor, theirsupport, and the accepted parts chute.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the gaging wheel and drive shaft of themotor.

F IG. 5 is a plan view of a gasket characteristic of the type of partgaged and sorted by the subject device.

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of the gasket shown in FIG. 5.

The general subject of the parts gager 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1 whereit will be seen that a bowl feeder 24 and its bowl 25 carry a bowl track26 for the feeding of gaskets 1 to a gaging wheel 15. The acceptablegaskets 1 drop downwardly after they are not fed to the gaging wheel 15,and move along an accepted parts chute'50 to a magnetic conveyor 60 andare carried to subsequent assembly operations. Those gaskets 1 which arerejected are carried over the top of the circumference of the gagingwheel 15, and drop into a reject chute 40 for delivery into anyconvenient receptacle or other receiving means for the rejected parts.Here it should be noted, particularly as identified in FIG. 1, that thecenter line of the gaskets 1 must be oriented above the center line oraxis of rotation of the gaging wheel 15. If the center line of the partsis the same as the center line or axis of rotation of the gaging wheel15, the parts may not be readily fed into the gaging wheel and thusoccasion blockage of the entire sorting operation.

To further understand the particular part involved, by

nular rim 2 which, in turn, is formed in the configuration of acompression bellows 3. Seat locks 4 extend or are punched outwardly anddownwardly from the annular rim 2, and in the conventional spark plug,the seat lock is the part that engages the base mounting rim of thespark plug itself.

Referring now to FIG. 3, it will be seen that the entire unit is drivenby a motor 11 which in turn activates a gear reducer 12 to drive a driveshaft 16. Conventionally and desirably the speed reducer should be socalculated with the part shown to operate approximately 75 rp.

The drive shaft 16, as shown in FIG. 4, extends from the motor 11 andsecured thereto is the gaging wheel 15, the mounting collar 19 of whichslides over the drive shaft 16, and is secured in place by means of aset screw 17 which may be secured to a flat, recess, or receiving meanson the drive shaft 16. The fixed wheel plate 18 has a generally planarinner face, and is separated from the lead plate 20 my means of a spacergage plate 21.

A frustoconical face or wedge face 22 is provided on the lead plate 20as will be more fully described hereinafter. Particularly to be noted isthe stripper finger 23 which is positioned at the discharge portion ofthe gaging wheel 15 to positively remove any parts or gaskets 1 whichhave become wedged into the gaging wheel and will not readily drop offafter passing over top center when rotated.

The feeding operation will, in detail, be better understood by referenceto FIG. 2 where it will be seen that the parts, or gaskets 1, proceedfrom the bowl 25 through the bowl track 26 which are made up of theinner rail 29 and deflector 30 to deliver the parts forwardly. Thedeflector 30 is tapered or otherwise disfigured at lead portion so thatany parts which are doubled will be tilted to a position of instabilityand dropped back into the bowl 25. These parts as well as therecirculating parts in the bowl are fed back into the delivery track 26and assisted by means of the wheel clearance fairing 27.

When a part passes the deflector 30 and is continually guided by meansof the inner rail 29 and main plate 31 of the track 26, theaccellerating jet 35 delivers a jet of air to the rear portion of thepart 1, and the same is accellerated into the gaging wheel 15. The jet35, as will be noted in both FIGS. 1 and 2 is secured to the bowl trackby means of mounting plate 36. As will be particularly seen in FIG. 2,after the part has been accelerated by means of the jet 35, it isdirected toward the wedge face 22 of the lead plate 20. Those partswhich are bent, or oversized, or otherwise disabled will, as a result ofthe action of the feed and the accelerating jet 35 wedge in placebetween the fixed wheel plate 18 and the wedge face 22 and be carried bymeans of the gaging wheel 15 in a direction as shown in FIG. 1 until thesame are dropped into the reject chute 40. Those parts which are droppedinto the reject chute 40 are confined by means of the chute wall 41 andthe short chute wall 42 and then dropped to the lower end of the chutewhere they are turned sideways by means of the side delivery end plate44 and the side delivery inner plate 45. As previously commented, and asshown only in FIG. 4, any parts I which are wedged too tightly betweenthe fixed wheel plate 18 and the wedge face 22 of the lead plate 20 areremoved by means of the stripper finger 23, and then continue of theirown weight or accelerated by means not shown such as a jet, or vibratorymeans to the end of the reject chute 40.

As shown in FIG. 3, it will be seen that the motor 11 and its associatedgear reduction 12 are mounted by means of a motor mount 14 which also,through the bracket 55, is used to mount the accepted part chute 50. Theaccepted part chute 50 has a base 51, a deflector wall 52, and aretaining rail 54. Those parts'which do not wedge into the gaging wheel15, drop down at the end of the track 26 or discharge block 28 onto thedeflector wall 52 and thence right along the base 51 of the acceptedparts chute until, as shown in FIG. 1, the same drop onto the magneticconveyor 60. The magnetic conveyor 60 includes a magnetic belt 61 whichhas a plurality of cross reference to FIG. 5 it will be seen that thegasket 1 has an ancleats 62. The tension of the belt and its operationis controlled in part by the adjustable tension pulley 64 through thebulk feeding means delivering parts to a discharge block in tensionadjustment means 65. A further deflector plate 66 is radius to radiusparts relationship, provided to ensure that the parts or gaskets 1 donot drop off a rotating gaging wheel, to the side of the magneticconveyor 60, but rather are consaid wheel having peripheral partsreceiving wedging fined as they move down the accepted part chute 50 foren- 5 means conformed to wedge oversize or reject parts, sured deliveryto the magnetic belt 61. accelerating means on the discharge block toseparate the Details such as the type of mounting support 68 used on thelead part from its radius to radius contact with trailing magneticconveyor 60, the screws 32 and 33 for securing parts and assist inengaging the reject part to the wedge, respectively the inner rail 29and deflector 30 to the discharge means for rotating the wheel to carrythe reject part out of block 28 may be varied within the scope of thepresent inventhe normal parts stream, tion. More specifically as to acommercial embodiment, the means for dropping the acceptable part whichdoes not particular spark plug gasket 1 which was fed was in a bowlwedge in the gaging wheel, having a 24 inch diameter. However, bowls of16 to 30 inches delivery means for the accepted part. may also beemployed by adjusting sizes and proportion. The 2. In the parts gager ofclaim 1, particular gasket maximum thickness is 0.105 inches. The slot apneumatic jet for accelerating the parts for engagement in the gagewheel was 0.113 inches allowing for some overby the gaging wheel. sizedparts to pass through. The wheel may very well have hi the Parts g gOfclaim been closed down so that any parts over 0.105 inches would saidpneumatic jet being positioned to both separate the be rejected;however, in the particular part concerned it was lead part and drive thesame into the gaging wheel wedge determined that those parts whichoperated with a 0.l 13 inch 20 and also accelerate the accepted part fordropping onto slot were acceptable. the delivery means.

The feed rate from the discharge of the parts gager have In the P3115 88 Qfclaim 1, been at the rate of l20 pieces per minute. This is adelivery a motor drive a t C lin in h gaging h l posirate ofapproximately 8 feet per minute for the particular tioned e th the enterOf the part o be gaged along gasket shown. Variations in the above feedrates, gasket sizes, 5 t e co mon Center ine of the radius to radiusparts. or part sizes are contemplated as within the scope of the 5. 1nthe parts gager of claim 1, present invention as well as the taper ofthe wedge face 22 and deflector 0n th s harge l k for tipping and thespacing by means of the spacer gage plate 21. recycling doubled orlocked parts to prevent the same Further illustrating the advantage ofthe invention, once the from ing gag gaskets 1 are properly sized andsorted, they may be fed to a In the Parts g g of claim 1 rotatingcomparable wheel which will deliver the same in a pneumatic jet foraccelerating the parts for engagement timed relationship to anotherpart, and positively feed the by the gaging h lsame into another feed.the P h h of l 1 Although several embodiments of the invention have beeni Sald pheumah? l be'hg poshlohed to h Separate the shown and describedin full here, there is no intention to lead part and the Same the gag'hgwhel wedge thereby limit the invention to the details of suchembodiments. ahd 315,0 accelerate the accepted for droPPlhg ohm On thecontrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, 'althe dehverymeans ternative embodiments, usages and equivalents of the disclothePans gager ofclahh sure as fall within the spirit and scope of theinvention, specifil the dscharge block for PP and cation and appendedclaims 40 recycling doubled or locked parts to prevent the same 1 claim;from being gaged.

l. A parts gager for round flat parts comprising,

1. A parts gager for round flat parts comprising, - bulk feeding meansdelivering parts to a discharge block in radius to radius partsrelationship, - a rotating gaging wheel, - said wheel having peripheralparts receiving wedging means conformed to wedge oversize or rejectparts, - accelerating means on the discharge block to separate the leadpart from its radius to radius contact with trailinG parts and assist inengaging the reject part to the wedge, - means for rotating the wheel tocarry the reject part out of the normal parts stream, - means fordropping the acceptable part which does not wedge in the gaging wheel, -delivery means for the accepted part.
 2. In the parts gager of claim1, - a pneumatic jet for accelerating the parts for engagement by thegaging wheel.
 3. In the parts gager of claim 2, - said pneumatic jetbeing positioned to both separate the lead part and drive the same intothe gaging wheel wedge and also accelerate the accepted part fordropping onto the delivery means.
 4. In the parts gager of claim 1, - amotor drive shaft centerline in the gaging wheel positioned beneath thecenter of the part to be gaged along the common center line of theradius to radius parts.
 5. In the parts gager of claim 1, - a deflectoron the discharge block for tipping and recycling doubled or locked partsto prevent the same from being gaged.
 6. In the parts gager of claim4, - a pneumatic jet for accelerating the parts for engagement by thegaging wheel.
 7. In the parts gager of claim 4, - said pneumatic jetbeing positioned to both separate the lead part and drive the same intothe gaging wheel wedge and also accelerate the accepted part fordropping onto the delivery means.
 8. In the parts gager of claim 4, - adeflector on the discharge block for tipping and recycling doubled orlocked parts to prevent the same from being gaged.